CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Ten days ago, some miscreant children battered seven tiny puppies at Nagaraj Layout in Whitefield. The puppies, stoned and beaten with iron rods, were taken to the hospital by residents nearby. Five of the puppies died, and another one died today. As of now only one survives, Mintu. The incident was reported in newspapers and shared on social media. When students from Parikrma Humanity Foundation - aged between 6 and 16 years - came to know of this, they were very upset and decided to do something for the puppies. They made paintings, and have been holding a fundraiser since Thursday for the…

On December 18th, Bengaluru, which had seen near-daily protests for the previous few days, was gearing up for two simultaneous protests at 11 am the next day - one at Mysore Bank Circle and the other at Town Hall. This followed a nationwide call to hit the streets on December 19th, to protest against the recently-passed Citizenship Amendment Act (which would fast-track citizenship for non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and against the nationwide NRC promised by Home Minister Amit Shah.  Bhaskar Rao, the Bangalore Police Commissioner announced that Section 144 was going to be imposed from December 19th 6…

What is the environmental cost of a big music event? Can art afford to be for its own sake and not think about all the plastic bottles and banners left behind without being recycled? What about the emissions from generators or the decibel levels? These questions led Roshan Netalkar to come up with Echoes of the Earth (EOE), an annual music festival, three years ago. Held on the outskirts of Bengaluru on a sprawling 150-acre property, it was aimed at marrying music and art with the theme of sustainability. Netalkar hoped to prove that music festivals of such scale could…

Residents across the city have at one time or another faced sudden inspections of the LPG connection at home. These often catch them by surprise as most people are unaware of the requirement of these checks and the frequency at which these should be conducted. Inspections are recommended once every five years, to be conducted by authorised personnel from the respective gas agencies which supply the cylinders. Lack of awareness about this has led to residents being duped by unauthorised individuals who carry out inspections at will and fleece them. However, before we decide to do away with inspections altogether,…

As an engineer, I always try to find logic in everything. After years of persistent effort, I finally concede - there's no logic when it comes to hailing an autorickshaw in Namma Bengaluru. Autos refusing a ride isn't uncommon in Bengaluru. But a few weeks ago I had my moment of epiphany when six empty autos - all going in the same direction - refused me a ride on the straight, freshly white-topped stretch from Silk Board Junction to Koramangala Forum mall. The distance - not more than 2 km. That's when it dawned on me - hiring an auto…

Many of us have multiple health insurance policies such as a retail policy, a corporate plan and a family floater plan. And yet, we almost never consider claiming health benefits using them together for a treatment. The reason is that most people don’t know how to leverage multiple policies for a maximised claim. Yet, multiple policies can help you recover the maximum amount of treatment cost at times. But an important point to note here is that you can never claim an amount more than the treatment expenses. To benefit from multiple policies when filing a medical insurance claim, here…

Unplanned commercialisation is the reason behind the traffic congestion on GST Road, a national highway and a crucial road connecting the suburbs to the city. Accountability here rests with the Pallavaram Municipality, which issues licences to the builders but fails to prevent or penalise irregularities in construction or deviations from rule. Has the outlet allocated space for parking? Is the drainage system proper? What about rainwater harvesting? -- Vital parameters such as these remain unchecked by municipal officials. Incidentally, these have a lot to do with the traffic nightmare that this road has become. Shortcuts and violations In the entire…

Is junk food as hazardous as tobacco? The country’s regulator FSSAI seems to think so. In a draft regulation published by FSSAI dated October 30 2019, FSSAI has proposed that no person shall offer or expose for sale of pre-packaged foods which are referred to as foods high in fat, salt and sugar within 50m of a school campus, in addition to ensuring that the food served within the school campus be healthy. While this may be a timely move, when India has been ranked 2nd on child obesity, second only to China, the key lies in the implementation and…

Pushing a rickety tricycle and making multiple stops to collect waste from households is a Herculean task for conservancy workers. As the day progresses, the vehicle gets progressively heavier with heaps of garbage but the worker still pushes it, going door to door to collect the waste.   "Every part of my body aches, literally," said a conservancy worker, who has been in the job for over 15 years. The long term health effects of their work on these blue-collared workers include persistent shoulder and back pain.  But there is some good news for them.  This troublesome situation could soon become…

Opening a hornet’s nest among the community, the city corporation has declared recent construction by fishermen around Thiruvanmiyur beach in Chennai as encroachments. Several additional structures have been constructed close to the beach, by the fishermen residing in the fisher-colony near Kuppam Beach Road, in the interest of better mobility and livelihood. “We received a lot of complaints from the residents of Thiruvanmiyur,” says K.B. Vijayakumar, Regional Deputy Commissioner at Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Adyar. “When we enquired, we found shanties with temporary roofs and a road built within 200 metres from the sea belt, which comes under Coastal Regulation…